| Company | Savant Group Ltd |
| Sector | Agri-infrastructure |
| Country | Kenya and Uganda |
| Total Project Cost | USD 27.5m |
| PIDG Commitment |
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| Dates of PIDG involvement |
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Across Africa, an estimated seven hundred million people live on smallholder farms without adequate access to water.[i] As the effects of climate change become more extreme and temperatures rise across the continent, reliance on rainfed agriculture has led to crop losses, famine, and displacement of families from areas impacted by increasingly frequent droughts and flooding. 240 million African people currently experience daily hunger, and, without action, this figure is expected to rise by 95% by 2050. Irrigation offers part of the solution, enabling farmers to guarantee adequate water for their crops year-round, and yet just 4% of sub-Saharan Africa’s cultivated land is currently irrigated, with irrigation largely concentrated in more developed African countries and with commercial large-scale farmers. The majority of sub-Saharan smallholder farmers currently rely on rainfall to water their crops or use expensive, polluting diesel irrigation pumps.
The subsidiaries of Savant Group Ltd. across sub-Saharan Africa, collectively known as SunCulture, developed an Internet-of-Things (IoT) enabled solar-powered irrigation system for use by smallholders farming approximately 1-3 acres of land. SunCulture designs, manufactures, finances, installs, and maintains its irrigation systems, and farmers pay for the systems through a Pay-As-You-Grow financing arrangement. The systems are remotely monitored and include predictive maintenance with the company’s Maarifa software supporting farmers to maximise their yields through sharing data they can use to inform their planting patterns.
Farmers can use the systems to charge small devices such as mobile phones. They also incorporate safe, low-voltage DC pumps to mitigate the risks of combining water and electricity.
With support from PIDG and other investors in SunCulture’s $27.5m Series B fundraise, the company will scale its offering to provide access to solar-powered irrigation systems for hundreds of thousands of farmers by 2030.
EKTA Partners acted as the exclusive financial advisor for this transaction, building on the team’s track record in raising capital for tech companies driving positive change globally.
Each pump displaces approximately 3.3 tCO2e emissions per year over the life of the product. The modular systems include battery storage, enabling farmers to water crops at any time of day – minimising evaporation – and drip irrigation which targets water where it is most needed.
SunCulture leverages consumer financing and carbon revenues to improve the affordability of its pumps. It is the first African solar water pump provider to receive VERRA certification.
Once operating at scale, SunCulture will be well-positioned to expand further by reinvesting its profits and attracting further private-sector finance.
The ‘total cost of ownership’ for a SunCulture pump is 40-60 per cent lower than the cost of a diesel pump, depending on payment plans. Scaling access to affordable, solar-powered irrigation systems is expected to improve yields and farmers’ incomes.
